buried me! They sent telegram upon telegram to ask whether I was dead or not! You see, I know all about it! Here, you see, I am quite alive.'
'Upon my word, Antonida Vassilyevna, why should I wish you hami?' J answered gaily, recovering myself. 'I was only surprised . . . And how could I help being surprised at such cin unexpected ...'
'What is there to surprise you? I just got into the train and came. The train was comfortable and not jolting. Have you been for a walk?'
'Yes, I've been a walk to the Casino.'
'It's pleasant here,' said Granny, looking about her. 'It's warm and the trees are magnificent. I like that! Are the family at home? TTie General?'
'Oh, yes, at this time they are sure to be all at home.'
'So they have fixed hours here, and everything in style? They set the tone. I am told they keep their carriage, les seignewrs mssesl They sp>end all their money and then they go abroad. And is Praskovya with them?'
'Yes, Polina Alexandrovna, too.'
'And the Frenchy? Oh, well, I shall see them all for myself. Alexey Ivanovitch, show me the way straight to him. Are you comiortable here ?''
'Fairly so, Antonida Vassilyevna.'
'Potapitch, tell that dolt, the kelln&r, to give me a nice convenient set of rooms, not too high up, and take my things there at once. Why are they all so eager to carry me? Why do they put themselves forward? Ech, the slavish creatures! Who is this with you?' she asked, addressing me again.
'This is Mr. Astley,' I answered.
'What Mr. Astley?'
'A traveller, a good friend of mine; an acquaintance of the General's, too.'
'An EngUshman. To be sure, he stares at me and keeps his mouth shut. I like Englishmen, though. Well, carry me upstairs, straight to their rooms. Where are they?'
They carried Granny up; I walked up the broad staircase in front. Our procession was very striking. Everyone we met stopped and stared. Our hotel is considered the best, the most expensive, and the most aristocratic in the place. Magnificent ladies and dignified Englishmen were always to be met on the staircase and in the corridors. Many people were making inquiries below of the ober-kelhter, who was greatly impressed. He answered, of course, that this was a distinguished foreign lady, ime ruisse, une comtesse, grande dame, and that she was taking the very apartments that had been occupied the week
before by la grande duchesse de N. Granny's commanding and authoritative appearance as she was carried up in the chair was chiefly responsible for the sensation she caused. Whenever she met anyone fresh she scrutinised him inquisitively and questioned me about him in a loud voice. Granny was powerfully built, and though she did not get up from her chair, it could be seen that she was very tall. Her back was as straight as a board and she did not lean back in her chair. Her big grey head with its large, bold features was held erect; she had a positively haughty and defiant expression; and it was evident that her air and gestures were perfectly natural. In spite of her seventy-five years there was still a certain vigour in her face: and even her teeth were almost perfect. She was wearing a black silk dress and a white cap.
'She interests me very much,' Mr. Astley, who was going up beside me, whispered to me.
'She knows about the telegrams,' I thought. 'She knows about De Grieux, too, but I fancy she does not know much about Mile. Blanche as yet.' I communicated this thought to Mr. Astley.
Sinful man that I was, after the first surprise was over, I was immensely deUghted at the thunderbolt that we were launching at the General. I was elated; and I walked in front feeling very gay.
Our apvartments were on the third iloor. Without announcing her arrival or even knocking at the door, I simply flung it wide open and Granny was carried in, in triumph. All of them were, as by design, assembled in the General's study. It was twelve o'clock and, I believe, some excursion was being planned for the whole party. Some were to drive, others were to ride on horseback, some acquaintances had been asked to join the party. Besides the General and Polina, with the children and their nurse, there were sitting in the study De Grieux, Mile. Blanche, again wearing her riding-habit, her mother, the little Prince, and a learned German traveller whom I had not seen before.
Granny's chair was set down in the middle of the room, three paces from the General. My goodness! I shall never forget the sensation! As we went in the General was describing something, while De Grieux was correcting him. I must observe that Mile. Blanche and De Grieux had for the last few days been particularly attentive to the little Prince, cl la barbe dtt pauvre general, and the tone of the party was extremely gay
and genially intimate, though, perhaps, it was artificial. Seeing Granny, the General was struck dumb. His mouth dropped open and he broke off in the middle of a word. He gcized at her open-eyed, as though spellbound by the eye of a basilisk. Granny looked at him in silence, too, immovably, but what a triumphant, challenging and ironical look it was! They gazed at each other for ten full seconds in the midst of profound silence on the part of all around them. For the first moment De Grieux was petrified, but immediately afterwards a look of extreme uneasiness flitted over his face. Mile. Blanche raised her eyebrows, opened her mouth and gazed wildly at Granny. The Prince and the learned German stared at the whole scene in great astonishment. Polina's eyes expressed the utmost wonder and perplexity, and she suddenly turned white as a handkerchief; a minute later the blood rushed rapidly into her face, flushing her cheeks. Yes, this was a cateistrophe for all of them! I kept turning my eyes from Granny to all surrounding her and back again. Mr. Astley stood on one side, calm and polite as usual.
'Well, here I am! Instead of a telegram!' Grarmy broke the silence by going off into a peal of laughter. 'Well, you didn't expect me?'
'Antonida Vassilyevna . . . Auntie . . . But how on earth ...' muttered the unhappy General.
If Granny had remained silent for a few seconds longer, he would, perhaps, have had a stroke.
'How on earth what? I got into the train and came. What's the railway for? You all thought that I had been laid out, and had left you a fortune? You see, I know how you sent telegrams from here. What a lot of money you must have wasted on them! They cost a good bit from here. I simply threw my legs over my shoulders and came off here. Is this the Frenchman? M. de Grieux, I fancy?'
'Otd, Madame,' De Grieux responded; 'et croyez, je suis si enchtmte . . . voire sante . . . c'est im mirtzcle . . . vous voir id . . . une swprise charmante. ...'
'Charmatnte, I daresay; I know you, you mummer. I haven't this much faith in you,' and she pointed her little finger at him. 'Who is this?' she asked, indicating Mile. Blanche. The striking-looking Frenchwoman, in a riding-habit with a whip in her hand, evidently impressed her. 'Someone living here?'
'This is Mile. Blanche de Cominges, and this is her mamma.
Madame de Cominges; they are staying in this hotel,' 1 explained.
'Is the daughter married?' Granny questioned me without :eremony.
'Mile, de Cominges is an unmarried lady,' I answered, purposely speaking in a low voice and as respectfully as possible.
'Lively?'
'I do not understand the question.'
'You are not dull with her? Does she understand Russian? De Grieux picked it up in Moscow. He had a smattering of it.'
I explained that Mile, de Cominges had never been in Russia.
'Bcmjowr,' said Granny, turning abruptly to Mile. Blanche.
'Bonjcmr, tnadame.' Mile. Blanche made an elegant and ceremonious ciu^ey, hastening, under the cover of modesty and poUteness, to express by her whole face and figure her extreme astonishment at such a strange question and manner of address.
'Oh, she casts down her eyes, she is giving herself airs and graces; you can see the sort she is at once; an actress of some kind. I'm stopping here below in the hotel,' she said, turning suddenly to the General. 'I shaU be your neighbour. Are you glad or sorry?'
'Oh, Auntie! do believe in my sincere feelings ... of pleasure,' the General responded. He had by now recovered himself to some extent, and as, upon occasion, he could speak appropriately and with dignity, and even with some pretension to efEectiveness, he began displaying his gifts now. 'We have been so alarmed and upset by the news of yom: illness. . . . We received such despairing telegrams, and all at once ...'
'Come, you are lying, 5rou are lying,' Granny interrupted at once.
